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Quantum sensors are set to make the invisible visible

Imagine a world where you can find out exactly what lies under your feet, get advanced warning of volcanic eruptions, look around corners or into rooms, and detect initial signs of multiple sclerosis.

Welcome to quantum sensing, a technology that could transform our world.

At their heart, these sensors rely on the often baffling behaviour of subatomic particles, where the classical assumptions of Newtonian physics cease to exist.

"Quantum physics is said to be 'spooky', with particles being in two places at once, but it might be less spooky if you think of them as waves - and waves can be in several places at once," says Prof Kai Bongs of Birmingham University.

It is so sensitive it can detect the tiny fluctuations in gravity that result from such relatively small underground structures.

This should help speed up survey times, says engineering firm Teledyne e2V, which is turning Birmingham's prototype into a commercial model.

Cheaper sensors

Quantum sensing will also help in monitoring volcanoes.

Glasgow University researchers are working with Italian volcanologists to place a network of 40 tiny gravimeters on Sicily's Mount Etna, one of the most active volcanoes in the world. As magma chambers fill up below ground their gravity readings will change, thus giving advanced warning of volcanic activity.

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Italy's Mount Etna is one of the world's most active volcanoes

Conventional lidar measures the distance to an object by illuminating it with pulsed laser light and then measuring the reflected pulses. But quantum technology enables scientists to measure the arrival time of single photons with very high accuracy, in trillionths of a second.